Episode 07: A Career Built on Following Passion with Ken Wiebe
Ken Wiebe 0:00
Some of the really good players never make it. And some of that is the mental grind it just some guys get worn down. And some players can't get past the mental hurdle of thinking that they're better than the guy who's on the team or why am I not getting called up at this time? I'm better than that guy. But the people that can process that quickly enough and focus their energy on getting back at the on the ice and worrying about doing the things necessary to become the next call up. Those are the guys that eventually make it.
Matt Johnston 0:34
The human experience is the greatest project any of us will undertake. It's often the one we spend the least amount of time working on. My name is Matt Johnston. I'm a self-professed personal development junkie, retired pro golfer, I now work for an organization that provides employee and health benefits to hundreds of thousands of people. It should be common sense to realize that what happens at work is what people bring home in what happens at home comes to them to work, but that's too often ignored. That's why each week I hope to uncover a little more around what it means to be a human working and living in the 21st century. We'll be learning from experts having conversations and getting insights into all those things that fall at the intersection of life and work, emotional and physical health skills and money. All the relationships we navigate each day and of course the purpose and meaning we all desire. This is The Human Assignment.
Hello and welcome back, or welcome to The Human Assignment podcast. Today, I'm sitting down with sports journalist all around great guy and a good friend of mine, Ken Wiebe. Ken Wiebe is a journalist for The Athletic where he provides insight and analysis for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. He appears regularly on Winnipeg Jets broadcasts on TSN TV with a featured segment called Wiebe's World, and is also a frequent contributor of TSN 1290 radio in Winnipeg. Born in Brandon, Manitoba and raised in the town of Altona, Ken spent 19 years covering sports primarily hockey for the Winnipeg Sun. After graduating from the University of Regina in 2000, Ken covered the Manitoba Moose for 10 seasons before the Winnipeg Jets returned to the NHL in 2011. Ken's professional path is the story of a guy that has followed his passion and his love. And it's also the story of grit and determination.
I've known Ken from the early days when he was covering amateur sports. And there's one thing that stayed consistent all these years with this guy: he has one heck of a positive mindset. And God, his personality is just infectious. I have conversations all the time with people that talk about following their passion and wanting to find a job that they love. So, I wanted to bring Kenny on this podcast, and this is a great interview and a great opportunity to talk to a guy who in my mind is living his dream. I truly believe that Wieber is - we affectionately call him - is becoming one of the best journalists in all of professional hockey. But his journey to where he is certainly hasn't been easy. And although he absolutely loves what he does is he says, living the dream every day. There's been a lot of ups and downs and he certainly speaks to that in this podcast. I have a great time talking to Ken anytime I'm hanging out with him, and I know you'll really enjoy him too.
If you want to learn more about him and you want to follow him, check him out on Twitter at Wiebe Athletic, read his Jets coverage on The Athletic or catch him in between second and third periods of any Jets game in his segment Wiebe's World. If you like this show, please consider giving us a review. That's the best way you can support us. Without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Ken Wiebe
Wieber, welcome to the show.
Ken Wiebe 3:57
Happy to be here, MJ. Thanks for having me.
Matt Johnston 3:59
Thank you so much for taking the time again, so pumped to sit down and get to chat with you and ask you questions that I that I've always wanted to ask you, but also record some of the wisdom that you share with me every time we get to hang. I wanted you on the show for many reasons. One of them though is that I as I started this podcast, The Human Assignment, that one of the topics that I hear people chat about all - they say all the time is that "I want to be passionate about what I do. I want to be passionate about my job." And as I thought about who in the world - who do I know that is - that loves what they do, that is like the picture of passion and your name came top of mind for me. There's no one that I know that I get more energy from, when talking about what they do than us. So, I just thought, man I want to sit down with Ken and talk to him about his passion. And, of course being - you know, what you do for a living but also the path it took to be in a job that you love so much.
Ken Wiebe 5:11
For sure that it was a bit of a circuitous path of - it didn't just happen overnight. But I mean, my passion comes from loving sports, and loving people and loving life. And when I was in high school, I got lucky enough to start to love writing. I mean, I was looking for some passion outside of sports, and I had an amazing English teacher named Peter Hildebrand in Altona. At WC Miller High School and the connection there was that Peter Hildebrand also happened to teach me how to throw a curveball when I was about 13 years old. So, when he was talking about Shakespeare, I listened a little bit more intently, because I knew about his sports background.
So, I really got inspired about writing and still wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I turned 19. And there was a vacancy at the sports department - at the Red River Valley Echo, in my small town of about 3,500 people. And I was living at home in my parents' basement, I was playing junior hockey with the Winkler Flyers, working at the local sports shop, but wasn't ready to go to university yet. And sure enough, there's a job that combines two of my passions which are writing and sports and decided to give it a whirl and now we're a little bit ways down the road and it's turned into a pretty fun career. I had no idea at the time, but they say the path isn't always necessarily chosen for you, but you got to go out and find it and not that's what I've been fortunate enough to do.
Matt Johnston 6:45
Now you are you work for The Athletic, no longer a start-up but the when you when you read the media headlines, the sports media company that's taking over sports.
Ken Wiebe 6:57
Yeah, it's an interesting premise and concept and I've loved it from the beginning. I've been a subscriber from almost the very beginning. And interestingly enough, I signed up for The Athletic because of their baseball coverage. One of my old colleagues from the National Post, his name is John Lott, great baseball writer. He moved over to The Athletic and I wanted to continue to follow his coverage. I mean, I'm a huge baseball guy. I've been to all 30 parks in the majors. When the Jets schedule comes out, I can't wait to see if I can go to a baseball game or tie in a football game somewhere.
And when they started to expand their NHL coverage, I thought man who knows what are they going to do in Winnipeg and then they started to expand within Canada and sure enough, an opportunity came together and I mean, I loved what I was doing at the Winnipeg Sun and for Postmedia, but I was looking for a little bit of a change in my life. I mean, had been there for 19 years loved my job, but I think it was just time to try something else get out of your comfort zone a little bit and give it a whirl. And I want to be part of something that's growing and it's no longer the future - online journalism - it's the present. So, I mean, it's cool to be part of something. And I mean, you lived in San Francisco, I was fortunate enough last month to go down to the head office in downtown San Fran and to feel the energy coming out of the building and just sort of see where some of the magic happens. And that really inspired me for when I started the job earlier this month.
Matt Johnston 8:32
Here you are, you're we just walked through the office here. And people are saying, "Ken, The Athletic. Congratulations, I saw you on TV last night on TSN. You're in a great spot in your career. You're covering the top show in town. You are a hockey guy. You're in the big leagues," but I know it wasn't just a quick jump from that 19-year-old job to where you are now. You’re also a great story of perseverance. And so, I just want to talk a little bit about your path. And hopefully we can learn some lessons from that.
Ken Wiebe 9:09
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, when I was growing up as a kid, like most people in the prairies, my goal and my plan was to play in the National Hockey League. Not necessarily cover it, but you learned some lessons along the line. I went to my first western league camp at 15 with the Swift Current Broncos, and my line mate was 6'1 and 200 pounds. His name was Ashley Buckberger. For me, I was always used to being one of the biggest guys around my team. I was 5'9, 1 70 and then you quickly learned that there's a lot of people at your level or higher. So I mean, I was fortunate enough to play hockey at a fairly high level, played four years in the MJHL and then played two years of college hockey at the University of Regina but make no mistake, I went there for the journalism program and I got two bonus years of hockey. By that age, I was already pretty well aware that the only way it was getting to the National Hockey League was to cover it.
So, it's been an interesting path. I mean, I loved going and starting out at The Echo. I mean, my, the managing editor at the paper. Her name was Liz Wheeler, she didn't really know a lot about sports. So here it was, I had this opportunity to essentially be a sports editor at the age of 19. that taught me a lot about the business of newspapers and, and the fun about putting a product together that you're sharing with the community, being a local weekly community newspaper, and as much as I loved it, I knew that I couldn't probably survive on $880 a month living in your parents basement, so decided to go to university and pursued that path. And then I was fortunate enough to have two great internships. I'd won at the Winnipeg Free Press as a Vince Lee scholarship student in 1999. Vibrant time in our city, Mattie, the Pan Am Games are happening.
I'm a huge baseball guy. Next thing I know, I'm covering Canada versus Cuba great rivalry and Ernie Whitts, the manager and just all kinds of cool things are happening. And Canada upsets the USA on a bloop single by Stubby Clapp, like things that I'll remember forever. These names mean nothing to a whole lot of people but for me, as someone who is starting out in the business still a student at that time I'm thinking, "Man, I'm getting to cover some of the most interesting things around and as you know, these are cultural kind of experiences. Canada, USA have rivalries. And it just, that's when I knew that I really wanted to pursue it as a career. I mean, to be perfectly honest, when I was still younger, I my plan was to be a play by play announcer I mean, I was calling games in my basement for the longest time and, and I really wanted to do that.
I mean, I grew up around radio. My dad was a chartered accountant for golden was broadcasting for more than three decades. As a kid I got to read commercials, things of that nature, so easily. I was always attracted to radio. But when I fell in love with writing, I thought, "Well, you know what, I think that's another cool path." And it just it's a long-winded way of saying, I've been fortunate enough to love what I do. But man, it's been interesting. And my second internship was at TSN as a researcher for the show Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, who had an amazing run on the television show and got to meet a ton of cool guests. And we always joke that I was in charge of helping Michael with the cue cards. So, I would do the research on the topics. We'd have cool story meetings, and it was an amazing way to see get my first glimpse of the TV side of things.
And I was really fortunate. And Michael was great to me just a really good mentor and a guy that was really encouraging and taught me a lot about the TV business in a short amount of time. So always thankful to him. And a couple years ago at the draft in Pittsburgh, I saw him out there he was there for his radio show, and I made a made an effort to go up and say hello to him again. I mean, it had been a long time and I mean, he gets interns, he had interns, you know, a couple times a year. So, I just wanted to let him know how important the connection was to me and how I always appreciated his advice down the road. And you know, lo and behold, at that time, I started doing some segments on TSN. I mean, I didn't have to give him a percentage, but I was certainly forever grateful for her how kind he was to me and how much advice he was willing to give in that short amount of time.
The other part of that too, and when I started at the at the one - so I had to three-month term contract with the Free Press in 2001. Paul Wessek went on a paternal leave and really enjoyed that summer I spent with the Winnipeg Goldeyes, traveling around with Paul Edmonds, who now is the radio voice of the Jets and we spent a lot of time people think now NHL is all about chartered flights and everything else. I'm not on the charter. Unfortunately, enough to be traveling regularly but on a day like yesterday, but people don't see before the secondary mission is my wake-up calls at 5:15am you're at the airport, for a seven o'clock flight and flying all day. You go to a game, wake up the next morning, fly back home and then the cycle of life starts again and you're running to the rink, and there's a game tomorrow and but I love all those parts of it. I mean, for some people, they think, "Man I'm getting up at 5am must be brutal." And I'm like, "You know what, knowing what I get to do during the day and at night. I don't struggle to get out of bed." Because I love - I'm passionate about what I do. I can't wait to tell that next story and that's why I feel so fortunate that I found something that really means a lot to me.
And I think storytelling is such a great art and I think people want to know more about the players in this example. So, everybody sees the Jets on the ice, but they don't really know a lot about them about their personalities or things of that nature. But it's kind of a cool thing to be able to tell the stories of some of these individuals. I mean, a great example from this training camp. Nobody knows anything about Andrei Chibisov, other than he's Russian and he speaks no English. So how do you do a story on a guy if you can't speak to him? You know, so you do a little bit of research and sure you can see on the internet what he did in the in the cage l when you play it in his homeland, but you don't really know a lot about him. But, you know, knowing some people around you're looking at HockeyDB or you're trying to see, did he play with someone that you knew or anything like that? I mean, Mikhail Berdin is a guy who can translate for him. He's a goalie prospect with the Jets, he played in the third period against Calgary. Huge personality, but two years ago, he didn't speak any English.
Now you got to your translator, still working on the language himself. So that interview hasn't happened yet, but I look forward to trying to tell it and it's interesting to talk to a guy like Nikolaj Ehlers who came over from Denmark and lived in Halifax for a couple of years before he became an NHLer, I mean, same thing as people. The path of Nikolaj Ehlers is very interesting. And people just think, well, he just showed up and he's an NHLer, well, no, I mean, this is guy that at 16 or 17 years, years old is moving from his homeland living with a billet and trying to not only play well enough to get noticed, but to adapt to living in North America.
Matt Johnston 16:26
Absolutely. I you know, I thought we might get into this later on, but I want to jump into it right now. One of the things that I think is so interesting about your perspective on professional sports in general, is that as a beat writer, you're there day to day - so you're not at 10,000 feet like the rest of us, you're somewhat you're in the trenches with the guys in that scene minute to minute, but you also have the opportunity to be an observer in that you're slightly removed from the room and I think that you have a - I can imagine that you have some great perspectives on effective teams - like the difference between the teams that are doing well and the teams that - they may be struggling leadership styles. And also, just the human aspect behind the talent we see on the ice on the field. Can you speak to that?
Ken Wiebe 17:18
For sure. I mean, I need to be straightforward and saying like, I mean, one of the other misnomers about my job is people think that you're like hanging around to the players, you're not like - that you have a small 15 to 20 minute window where you're talking to them and mostly interviewing them, but you just hang with the with the with the regular people.
Matt Johnston 17:41
And the guys that are missing the cut on the Hooters tour in Valdosta, Georgia.
Ken Wiebe 17:46
But it definitely is a unique perspective to be there on a regular basis because you see the human interaction and you see, the thing that I'm most fascinated by when it comes to players is the individual growth and how the personalities mash and how the interactions happen. I mean, there's the dynamics between a Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine were buddies. And they're - how guys chirp each other and when the guys feel their voices strong enough to be a little bit more assertive, because in hockey culture, it's very much a veteran laden process.
You have to sort of feel your way out. But I mean, if you're a natural leader, you're going to be a little bit more vocal a little bit sooner. So, I mean, there's always interesting to see how guys kind of grow into their roles and some of that you see in the daily interactions in the in the dressing room and things of that nature. But the to watch the maturity and to see guys grow into themselves and I mean, a guy like Josh Morrissey was always very polite. Mark Scheifele, a guy who loves hockey. You always knew that those type of guys were going to be leaders because there had just kind of infectious personalities and just really love the sport and love talking about the game. They're their intellectual guys. I mean, Andrew Copp is like that, Adam Lowry, they're guys who love to talk about hockey. And the interesting part too, and we've talked about this before, off microphone.
The thing that I've tried to really work on in my job is to get to know the players outside of just themselves as players. I mean, one thing about hockey culture too, is that clichés are a regular part of the vernacular and that that's by design. But if you get to know the player, they'll talk to you in more of a human level, rather than just the breaking down of the X's and O's and saying the things that they're taught or programmed to say.
And that's where I found it's interesting to have conversations about the Blue Jays or about books. I mean, Adam Lowry is a guy who loves books. I mean, some guys in the Jets they love golf, which is a joint passion of yours and mine. I mean, it's interesting to talk to guys and how, you know, some guys would never play during this season some guys on an off day we'll try to play I mean, guys, you thought, you know, two years ago, they weren't any good now they're becoming scratch golfers. I mean, it's frustrating to people who play all the time, then you're trying to get better that now you have a professional athlete who just picked up the sport two years ago, and now they would - they would not the same time but they'd be waxing you but I mean, that's just another testament to the physical side and the athletic side and, and the mental focus that you need to become a professional athlete at whatever level.
That's interesting to monitor too. And what, what makes players tick off the ice. I mean, that's the other part. I mean, it's very, it's very interesting. I mean, like I said, you only get to know players a little bit, but you can learn a lot by observing and that that's been a really fun part of the job. And it's also fun to because they covered the American League for 10 years where you see a lot of really good players, some of them make it some of the really good players never make it. And some of that is the is the is the mental grind it just some guys get worn down.
I know you talk about process on the podcast a lot. I mean, some players can't get past the mental hurdle of thinking that they're better than the guy who's on the team or why am I not getting called up at this time. I'm better than that guy. But the people that can process that quickly enough and focus their energy on getting back at the on the ice and worrying about doing the things necessary to become the next call up. Those are the guys that eventually make it, like it's just really interesting. I mean, because some players should be regulars, but they spend a month sulking - for lack of a better term - about their lot in life instead of dominating and saying, "You know what, I'm going to give you no other option but to have me on the team and play me more." I mean, same thing when it comes to distribution of ice time. I mean, when you get to the cream of the crop, the elite level, almost every player is used to being the best player on their team. All of a sudden, there's only 60 minutes of ice time to slice out of the pie, right? And the same thing, they're like players that are able to latch on to the fact that I've got to do more in eight minutes than I used to do in 20. In order to get to 12. Those are the guys that are successful.
It’s very rare that a guy starts at 18 years old jumps right on to the first line in the National Hockey League. It just doesn't happen often. So, it's interesting to watch and monitor how the maturity comes. I mean, it's easy for me to say at 44 years old when I was 20, 21 playing as a fifth liner for the Regina Cougars. I was having these same thoughts in my head, saying man, you know what, I should be playing on the fourth line, not sitting out this weekend. But I mean it's interesting to see guys graduate to like, guys had to really grind it out. Like we talked about the path. I mean, for me covering the Moose, to have the greatest examples of guys who had more than just talent and had to persevere or Alexandre Burrows and Kevin Bieksa. Bieksa is a guy who came, came from college, from Bowling Green, he was a marginal prospect, but had incredible will and desire. And Alexandre Burrows is a guy who is in the East Coast Hockey League, riding the bus, not loving hockey, sort of temporary, he lost his passion for hockey. And was thinking about it wasn't sure how much longer he's going to play. And then he kept persevering. He got a chance with the Moose. And he ended up having a career with the Vancouver Canucks that his number is gonna go up in the Ring of Honor like and this was a guy that was a hard-working guy known more for being a star ball hockey player than being a hockey player. He played for the national team and did a bunch of stuff that way.
But I love those stories because in the age that we live in, there's a lot of entitlement in some regards. And here are some guys who are willing to just sacrifice everything in order to make it work. And it's interesting to see the differences between guy who's drafted first overall, and a guy who was undrafted and in the ECHL and ended up making it. I mean, it's that those are the kinds of stories that you love to tell. And I mean that you can't script these things. So, in 2011, the Jets announcement happens. Jets are coming back to Winnipeg; I'm thinking that I've wanted forever to be a National Hockey League beat writer. So, I'm gonna go-
Matt Johnston 24:49
Before you go there, can you paint the picture of where you were in your career because this is something that I wanted to touch on. Because to this point, your path seems pretty linear. You know, Ken is destined to be on TSN every night and write for The Athletic and head to wherever you're going next so where were you right before the Jets came back?
Ken Wiebe 25:09
My apologies, there, I have been living and fast forward here accidentally. I mean, I loved covering minor league hockey for eight years. We treated the Manitoba Moose, like they were an NHL team, I was going on the road for 30 out of the 41 games. I was doing the same things an NHL beat writer would do but in 2009, we stopped traveling with the with the Moose. So instead of being on the bus, which is a grind in itself, but something that I was used to as being a as an amateur athlete, I'm used to bus rides and those things so that was part of the fun part of the job.
But people don't realize that when I was covering the Moose, I mean, this isn't a time I'm going to date myself here but like dial-up internet was a thing at one point which people listening to podcasts will be laughing they'll be like, "Dial-up internet, what are you talking about? Like what am I?" The funniest stories from the early years of my writing was, I'm the Moose were playing in Cleveland, Ohio. There's barely anybody at the game. After the game, it's a typical three-and-three situation where you're playing in three cities, you're on the bus. But at this time, I can't tether to my phone, I can't use technology to my benefit. I'm in the press room at Quicken Loans Arena trying to dial-up internet so that I can send my story and I can't email it without getting online with a dial-up method.
I'm looking at my watch and my stories done. I know that the bus is leaving at let's say five o'clock. Now it's like five to five and I cannot get online and I am starting to panic. But I can't just wait and try it at the next city. I mean, I'm looking at a seven-hour bus ride which means I'll miss deadline. I won't be able to get the story in. So, I have to wait and get the story done. I finally get connected and now it's like just after five and I know that's not going to be good. I run as fast as I can to get onto the bus Randy Carlyle's the head coach of the Manitoba Moose. I am in a complete panic, huff I quickly run to sit down. "I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry." And Randy, absolutely let me have it like verbally. Just an absolute diatribe on, "You're a guest on this bus. We will never wait for you again. I can't believe this."
And I am floored. I'm like, nobody felt worse than me before I got on the bus. But now I feel even worse than it was humanly possible. But with the benefit of time. I knew it wasn't a personal attack. But at the time I didn't know that. But for Randy, it was a teaching moment for his players. He could make an example of the media guy in front of his players. About missing - about them not being on time. Randy's - because if you're not five minutes early, you're 10 minutes late, right? The players saw what happens when you miss the bus. How many players do you think miss the bus that year for the Manitoba Moose?
Matt Johnston 28:11
The Ken Wiebe effect.
Ken Wiebe 28:12
Yeah, exactly. I was the sacrificial lamb, if you will. But I mean, I love covering minor league hockey. But when we stopped traveling and got to be a bit of a challenge, I mean, now instead of being at the games, interviewing the players and coaches, now you're relying on the play by play field and you're having to write your story without the benefit of being around the team. So that wasn't as fun obviously. And it and it was quite challenging to be perfectly honest, because you don't have the same kind of access. You're not building the relationships in terms of professional relationships that are required to do the job properly. So, we did travel when the Moose made it to the Calder Cup final, but I mean, still it was it was in a tough spot and mentally it was starting to take a bit of a toll.
I still enjoyed the writing and I still enjoyed being around the rink, but the job wasn't what it used to be. But deep down, I'm thinking, you have to battle through it. Just like sports, you're gonna have adversity and things like that. I wasn't necessarily ready to quit my job. But I was starting to wonder if this was the path for me. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, just work your way through it, because the day that you hand in your resignation is probably going to be the day that Mark Shipman steps to the podium and said, by the way, the Jets are back, right. And for me, I just wasn't willing to risk not being able to do that I had invested 10 years of my life at the paper in trying to get to the National Hockey League. I mean, I'd had a couple of job interviews and other markets that were really close where I was the runner up or the finalist, and those things are encouraging, but they're more encouraging in years one and four and six, but when you're getting to your 10 and you're not feeling like you're advancing in your job, now, you're starting to wonder if you're on the right path. But fortunately for me, I was able to battle through.
One of the cool things about that year that I didn't travel, I got to go to the World Women's Volleyball Championship in Osaka, Japan, I would probably never just traveled to Japan on my own. But the team was based in Winnipeg. Volleyball Canada had a lot of funds available for one writer to go with them. And fortunately, enough for me, I was able to do that. And so I had this amazing cultural experience going around the world to cover volleyball and again it part of that was it was a good reminder of the passion that you have for the job, but because it was waning a little bit on the other side, because your job was sort of getting funnelled into something that it wasn't like before, so it was a cool thing to be able to experience.
I came back with a good perspective after being out there and lo and behold in the summer of 2011 life changed forever, essentially, because the Winnipeg Jets came back. And, and lo and behold, I had spent almost 10 years trying to go somewhere else to achieve my dream. And now, a team that I watched as a kid, they were coming right back into your own backyard. So not only do you get to cover the National Hockey League get to do it in your home province, where your friends are, where your family is, and all those cool things. I mean, it was quite a scene. I mean, I was among the many who went to Portage and Main. On the day of the news got broken by Stephen Brown when he was at the Globe and Mail.
And the celebration that broke out in town was absolutely something to behold people in the streets fired up, Jets jerseys, Portage in Maine is closed down. There are random street hockey games happening. And even though I wanted to grab a stick and get involved. I just wanted to enjoy the scene for what it was. And I ended up writing a little bit about it for the paper. And I mean for me to see what it meant to the community. I mean, it was just unbelievable. I mean, Winnipeg is a city that's proud of itself and constantly defending itself from other markets about, you know, maybe it's not the best place to be living but people live here, they know that it's a great place to live and it's a great place to grow up. And it's a great place to raise a family and things of that nature. And it was just cool to on that day. People grew and their chest started sticking out because of their civic pride again, I mean, not that they didn't have it before, but it was back to a level that we hadn't seen around these parts in a very long time.
Matt Johnston 32:50
So your - that was an amazing time, and your life did change forever, your professional life, And I remember in those - in that first year catching up with you a couple times, actually, I remember a couple great trips in Tampa, when the Jets are in Tampa. And we had a hilarious night where it was - I think we got home in a golf cart.
Ken Wiebe 33:16
We did, that's a true story.
Matt Johnston 33:18
From a bar in Tampa. And then you were - but you met me that night at 11:15 at night, because you had five stories that had to be in.
Ken Wiebe 33:27
Yeah.
Matt Johnston 33:28
And you were out of that hotel room at 4:15 in the morning to catch the next flight to wherever you were going. And so as exciting as it was, it was, it also becomes more demanding.
Ken Wiebe 33:42
It sure does. And I mean, the thing about the Jets being back is that people couldn't get enough of the Jets. They wanted everything covered. They wanted to get to know everybody and as a writer in the American Hockey League, the access is so great because they need all the coverage they can get. So, you can spend 25 minutes sitting on the bench with the with the captain of the Manitoba Moose, Nolan Baumgartner, and have a great story and be able to tell it kind of at your leisure. Whereas you get to the NHL and things are very structured and we're lucky I mean, they're pretty good compared to most sports but your bosses don't know that you don't have necessarily have the same access to the people. And because the appetite in the city was so high for everything you get.
You basically get spend every waking hour writing about the Jets or trying to find a story or making calls and that first summer was unbelievable in the first season was great. But I mean, something would happen where you think you're done for the day and your boss would call you and say Boston Pizza took out a quarter page ad, so you got another page to fill. And it was awesome to have to do it. But usually these things were happening well after the access period was over. It's not like when your boss tells you needs another page to write about.
You're not just knocking on the door of a player and saying, "Hey, man, I need to talk to you," you know what I mean? Like it's, it's not like that things are very structured you, you speak to players at the rink and basically don't really see them outside of that. So, there were some challenges but the fun kind, the fun kind of challenges that you work through and do the best that you can to tell the best story that you can. But I mean, that was part of the that's part of the thing about the media that that's enjoyable. You want to be able to tell great stories so if you want to go the extra mile you do it, I mean, because that it's worth it.
Matt Johnston 35:39
And when you follow your path, you can see all how all your experiences were - Was this compound interest effect, I'm sure in terms of building the skills to do this. But still, I like I just I read most of your stuff. You're my boy, but I have a tough time keeping up as a reader. Like I just it just boggles my mind. How you can continue to fill out content that much how you can continue to pump out that much content day in and day out. What do you how do you do it?
Ken Wiebe 36:09
Yeah, it's fortunate because I haven't lost the passion for what I'm doing. Like, I think the thing that we've talked about often I mean, I'm in the 5%. I mean, I'm in the 5% of people that that absolutely love what they do. And so, then when you have to spend the extra hour, the extra four hours, it doesn't feel like work. I mean, you're working hard. But if it doesn't feel like work, then it flows a lot easier. I mean, for me, I'm lucky enough that I don't have writer's block very I don't, I can't recall a time when I really have had writer's block where I'm sitting at my computer and nothing is coming out. I mean, there might be a day where it's maybe not flowing as freely but then you got to get yourself started by transcribing the interviews are doing something else and eventually things will come together. But, I mean, time management is part of that. I mean, traveling is that's the other part of things like your guy who's traveled a lot.
Some people think that traveling is a vacation. I mean, between going to the airport two hours early and waiting through the lines with a lot of people that don't travel. You're dealing with a lot of personalities; a lot of people are in a hurry. Most people aren't in a great mood in an airport. Unless you have the right demeanor and mindset, it can get your day off to a rough start. But for me, I've learned over the years that you got to kind of laugh, laugh it off and kind of enjoy the experience even though some days you're stuck in a security line for a little bit longer than you'd hoped or, or whatever else.
You’ve got to manage your time. I mean on the plane. I'd love to be - I love to read I'd love to be reading books all the time on the plane, but a lot of time you're going through quotes or you're trying to type the story to make your day easier when you get to the next city. But again, that's something that I only learned over time I didn't, I didn't just wake up and say, "You know what, I really got to spend three hours today at the airport writing, or else you're going to be writing until 11pm."
At night, you know, it's unfortunate to be able to travel to a lot of great cities. And I'm not getting to go to the museum every time. But I mean, I've also learned over the course of time that you have to take some time for yourself and those trips and meet people. No, I love to golf. So, I've been fortunate enough to play a lot of golf, or a little bit more golf on the road in recent years. But for me, my mentality regards that is this. I mean, we live in a connected society. So if something happens, you can get it on your phone and you I could write a story, I could write a quick story on my phone and then I could abort the plan and get back to the airport or get back to the hotel or the rink or wherever I need to be and get the job done. But I mean, work life balance is something that has been a challenge that everyone I think has to deal with to a certain degree.
Matt Johnston 39:01
Well, I think that the flip side of passion, or maybe it's, you know, the shadow side of passion - is work life balance - is how you manage that. And you have some, especially in recent years, have some great perspectives there.
Ken Wiebe 39:17
I'll say this I mean, Dennis back from TSN, is a guy that told me very early that. He put his arm around me in Florida and said, he could sense a little bit of frustration one of the days and, again, even someone as positive to me that you're going to have a few days where your kind of left shaking your head a little bit. And Dennis put his arm around me, and he said, "You know what Glen Slather told me a long time ago. You're in the National Hockey League. You better enjoy it." I mean, best piece of advice. That’s a piece of advice for players, for trainers for coaches, managers, fans, to be honest, but it was just a great, it was great timing and it took me a little bit longer maybe to apply that to myself because I mean, that's the thing.
When you're in this business, it's so immediate social media has become a - it's a great tool, but it's also changed the way that news is delivered. So, you can constant you're constantly on call in a job like mine. I mean, it's funny we always laugh. And people see in the summertime the Manitoba golf tour photos are flowing, yes, but I mean, during the year, you're basically on call for eight or nine months. But being on call doesn't mean that you shut the rest of your life off. If you do that, you're not going to live a very satisfying life, I think. But I think I've also found that sometimes when you're able to put the phone down for a little while, it will enrich your enjoyment of life. And it keeps up the passion for what you're doing.
I've been fortunate enough. I mean, I we were always able to make time on the road, but for the last five years or so, I've been able to connect with college friends or people I played hockey with when I was 19. Or baseball, I just feel like the value of relationship is something that again, I think in our society, it's gotten lost to a certain degree. I mean, instead of talking on the phone, people are texting constantly, I think it's still important to have that human interaction. And the ability to connect with people helps me in my job, try to connect with telling stories that I feel are important to people and I think that was one of the those work life balance things that didn't happen overnight, but I feel I've gotten a lot better at it in the last few years.
Matt Johnston 41:46
So, you're on TSN, which - you've done TV and radio for four , but that was it. I mean, that was a that's a big, it seemed like or at least in our conversations a big jump, and certainly skill set to be learned.
Ken Wiebe 42:01
My friends who grew up with me will tell you that I'd never met a microphone I didn't like. I mean that that was a fairly constant in my life. Not in the BS or kind of way. But I love talking. I mean, I love talking, I love talking to people. I'm fascinated by people. Because I travel a lot, I talk to strangers a lot. I like to engage people in conversation, because I too, I like to know what makes people tick. I mean, I know what makes me tick. I know what things that I'm passionate about. But it's, it's an interesting premise. I mean, it's something that you got to kind of work out and deal with on your own.
Matt Johnston 42:43
I guess where I was going with that, is that there's some great lessons to be learned. You can connect the dots throughout your whole picture to but there's - in your industry, and especially on TV - people are watching the learning curve and so on. I guess I'm just trying to tie this back to mindset which you've given us some great lessons on - in the course of this conversation but just curious as to how, you know, how you approach that from a mindset standpoint as you're learning a new skill while everyone's watching.
Ken Wiebe 43:17
There’s not a lot of you know, forgiveness on - when it comes to sports. So people don't like your opinion, they're gonna light you up on Twitter or whatever else but I mean, it's just the mentality I try to take into it when I'm with Sarah or with Dennis on TV is that - think of it like you're talking to one of your buddies but the only difference is that there's someone there recording it. I mean, guys are always talking, guys and gals are always talking about their favorite athlete or their favorite TV show or whatever else, but you just got to be comfortable and you got to be yourself.
If it's forced, people aren't going to a enjoy it or be believe it. I mean, you got to be yourself. You can't be some big personality if you're not. I mean, I people sometimes say I'm a little bit more reserved on TV than I am in real life. And I mean to a degree That's true, but I think that over time, Sarah and I have developed a great chemistry, we're great friends. I mean, our personalities are starting to come out a little bit more on the segment. And that's fun. It's fun. That's part of growth that we've been talking about. I mean, I it's been interesting to see the growth in players and the growth and in my role and things like that as well. I mean, personally and professionally.
You'd never know it, but the first episode ever taped for TSN that went live. When I was doing the pregame show before it became Wiebe’s World. You have three topics in advance. But there's no script. There's no prompter. I mean, that's what people always think of - you must be reading. Well, no, I mean Joe Aiello, who I did a radio show with for a long time, he used to call me Rain Man because of my ability to process stats and things that nature. So, I mean, that was always a benefit and a plus going into it, but you just never know how you're gonna react when the red light is on. And the constant running joke was that on the first episode, so you have three topics and it's supposed to go about a minute on each topic.
And although I mean I've done some TV work I did Goldeyes baseball on Shaw, things like that. And Jim Dolph and I would do a show called Moose Tracks on in a local community access but now you're getting the same thing. Just like going to the NHL. Now you're on TSN I mean, this is the big time here. For my first episode of the pregame show. I went two minutes and 28 seconds or something like that. And everyone thought if you were doing the over under on whether I would be five minutes for three minutes segment or under, no one would have bet the under because, again, never been a microphone you didn't like but I guess the other part of it was that I was talking so fast that I didn't even realize what was going on.
The technical side of TV too, you don't you don't think of these things. But I mean, we have a monitor in the room with us. And like the last thing that my producer Jeff McLeod said to me before the segment was, don't worry about looking at the monitor. But sure enough, all in all my eyes are caught doing is looking up and down. Like when I'm on it was it was just like a great trial and error run where I mean, don't have those cookies. Well, what are you going to do? You're reaching for the cookie jar, right? The last thing that that Jeff had said was don't look at the monitor. But for me, I'm used to looking Dennis in the eye but Dennis's, his eyes on the monitor are basically at what would look like someone's chest level or stomach levels.
So, for me, I'm trying I'm thinking that I'm looking Dennis in the eyes. But people are looking at me and say, "Why does he keep looking down?" You know what I mean? Like just silly stuff that you'd never think of. But, I mean, it's been awesome to be on TSN I mean, I as a kid, I mean, you're watching sports center and you see Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger on and as somebody wanted to get involved in sports, you want it to be like those guys. And now I'm fortunate enough to call them colleagues and you know, when the Jets would go to the prospects tournament in Penticton.
Now you find yourself sitting around a dinner table with these kind of legends in your profession, and they're treating you like an equal. I mean, you maybe get a little bit of joke about being the new guy. Next thing you know, you look up and you've been covering sports in this town for two decades. And I mean, I feel super fortunate to be able to do that. I mean, the only other thing I wanted to be other than a professional athlete at one time was maybe to be a teacher, but the fact that I found writing and the passion for it and that it's trickled radio and TV. I mean it's I honestly, I feel blessed pretty much every day. I wake up and I can't wait to get to the rink. I can't wait to, to try to tell that next story because it means something to me, and I hope that it means something to the reader and the viewer.
Matt Johnston 48:19
So cool. So, one more question before we end for the day - with that teacher hat on. What piece of advice would you give to your 30-year-old self? Or maybe your 30-year-old nephew?
Ken Wiebe 48:34
Yeah, it's good. I mean, it. It's a profession that is it. It's not always as glamorous as it seems. And I mean, I've been - I was fortunate in my path that I mean, I had a year and a half of time at the weekly before I started but everyone wants to start at the top. But sometimes the best part of the journey is what you're learning on the way to the top. I mean, that's probably the best advice that I would give.
If you want to be a writer. Write as much as you can. A big thing for me always is reading I love reading other writers I love. I read Peter King, Monday Morning Quarterback. I mean, I'm an NFL fan, but it's not my number one, but he's a guy that I respect in terms of what he's been able to do with his career. I mean, I, as a student, or as a kid in school, I pored over the hockey news I couldn't wait to read it during the break. I mean, I love reading biographies. I love to learn about people.
And just the biggest thing is to be passionate about what you do. I mean, it's not always going to be easy. And you know what, sometimes on the road, you're covering a grade eight basketball game when you feel like you should be covered in the NHL. You know what, there's an important story to be told at that grade eight basketball game or that high school game or, I mean, I had passion for covering an atom hockey tournament when I worked at the weekly newspaper or if you're covering an election, I mean, tell a story that you think someone would want to read.
And I think that - just keep battling for it. If you want it go out and get it. I mean, same as hockey like same as what we were talking about at the start of the podcast. I mean, there are going to be roadblocks to overcome and doors that you're going to need to eventually kick down. But the world needs great storytellers. And if you want to become one, do whatever it takes to become one.
Matt Johnston 50:20
I think that is a hell of a way to end. That's great advice, whether you want to be a writer or do anything else in the world. Ken Wiebe, thanks so much for being on, man, for taking the time. And for everything you do. You've been a you've been a great friend and huge support and an inspiration to me. And I'll be I'll be reading later today.
Ken Wiebe 50:49
Right on, man. Thanks for having me. Really pleasure to be with you.
Matt Johnston 50:51
Cheers.